#2 Maryland Outmuscles #15 Wake, 4-1

Maryland Athletics

9-20-2013

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – No. 2 Maryland field hockey worked to beat No. 15 Wake Forest, 4-1, Friday night in the teams’ Atlantic Coast Conference opener. After a tight first half, Maryland pulled away in the second to move to 7-0.

The Terps (7-0, 1-0 ACC) held Wake Forest (5-2, 0-1) without a penalty corner until the final 10 seconds of the match. The teams were practically even in shots in the first half, but Maryland’s offense outshot the Deacs, 12-4 in the second.

“It’s a brand of hockey that you can always be sure to be really fast and very athletic,” head coach Missy Meharg said. “I’m very proud of our team and I think we brought out the best in Wake Forest. They are a very talented team. Today they played a very different way collectively than what we saw on video. We’re just really happy with the result and very pleased with the second half. We did some tactical changes that really worked well for us and got us goals.”

Maryland struck first when senior Jill Witmer got her stick on sophomore Anna Dessoye’s shot from the top of the circle to give the Terps the lead four minutes in. Wake tied it up five minutes later when Holly Brown scored off a pass from Kari Walkley.

Sophomore Katie Gerzabek broke the tie in the 25th minute when she cracked a backhanded shot off the rebound from the top right part of the circle. Maryland led 2-1 at halftime.

Just over five minutes into the second half, Dessoye was there to put in Ali McEvoy’s saved shot and give the Terps some distance. McEvoy finalized the score at 4-1 when she struck off a rebound on a penalty corner play with 15 minutes to play.

Next, Maryland will host Michigan (4-3) Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. Admission and parking are both free. Live stats will be available for Sunday’s game at UMTerps.com and the matchup can be heard online for free via Maryland’s campus station, WMUCSports.wordpress.com. Live updates will be available at @TerpFieldHockey.

Maryland leads the country in goals scored per game (6.14), assists per game (4.57), points per game (16.89) and scoring margin (4.57).